St. Mary’s rallies to tie AACS in soccer
Saints fight back from 2-goal deficit to earn 2nd straight draw
Even when the ball flew off Earl Chambers’ foot into the back of the net, the St. Mary’s boys soccer team didn’t stop wrestling for control, fending off Annapolis Area Christian School until the whistle blew, signifying the second goal.
That’s how badly they did not want to lose again.
That second goal erased the Eagles’ two-score advantage and forced the visitors to battle the Saints through double overtime, where the two Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference squads ended entangled, 2-2.
It was the second game in a row to finish in a tie for St. Mary’s (2-5-2), but a plateau to the Saints’ September slide.
“Our bunch has had the fighting spirit the whole way through,” St. Mary’s coach Corey Childs said. “We’ve had our adversity that we’ve dealt with, that we’ve overcome. They came to life today. It’s unfortunate, pushing as much as we did, not to get a third goal.”
The Saints found themselves looking up from a ditch late in the first half. Though offense squeezed Eagles (6-5-1) keeper Jackson Hornberger and the backfield just as heavily as its visitors, if not more so, it couldn’t find that last magic touch that’d secure a go-ahead lead.
St. Mary’s had prevented AACS from doing the same for 28 minutes, until junior Cole Parker slipped through a hole, curled a pass to junior Jaden Rollins, who scored.
The Saints’ distance to climb out of the hole increased in the second half, as Liberty commit Luke Eberle wound around the St. Mary’s backline from the left side and slipped Larry Abayomi a cut across the face of the goal.
Abayomi’s shot popped off the top-bar and bounced back in to score.
The Saints defense, which had at that point surrendered two goals in a game seven times already this season, had to decide then and there whether it would fall back into old patterns.
It wouldn’t. Led by Will Tominovich, St. Mary’s defense ensured AACS would never find the back of the net again.
A top defender in lacrosse, Tominovich had transitioned into the forward position recently for soccer, but injuries and illness called the senior back to his usual haunt.
There had been a moment where the Eagles nearly put the whole affair away, as Parker took a pass from Rollins and stormed St. Mary’s goalkeeper Nate Lynch and unloaded a shot inside the six-yard line.
“It was unfortunate. That little thing changes the game, of course, and that speaks to being able to finish, especially on golden opportunities like that,” AACScoach Vaughn Ridings said. “Honestly, he probably had time to take a touch, two touches and slot that sucker home, but wasn’t to be.”
Still, the damage of two goals scored was done, and time was running out for the Saints to answer, so the hosts began to pepper Hornberger with shots.
As the saying goes, the third time was the charm.
Jimmy Contreras had been pushing all afternoon, so when Josh Gaeng’s attempt deflected off the posts and came to him, he made sure he’d score it.
Thirteen minutes later, the Saints descended on the Eagles’ backfield again. Chambers plucked the ball from the mad scramble at the net, putting it away as his teammates screamed from the bench, “It’s in, it’s in!”
Regulation melted to overtime to second overtime. With the chance to walk away with the win in anyone’s hands, blue or white, the ball took flight, soaring from end to end as both squads feverishly tried to body it and collect, with enough momentum to pierce a defense that both team’s goalkeepers maintained with diving stops.
“It’s a very one dimensional approach — they get the ball wide, cross it to the middle,” Ridings said. “If they get a throw-in from the side, it’s a big, long throw. So that means the basics of clearing, basics of being able to win those aerial duels are things we’ve got to master. Typically, we’re really good with that. Today, we weren’t.”
Field hockey
Spalding 2, Stone Ridge 1: Lily Grant and Kristin O’Neill each scored a goal, while Katie Fichtner and Katie Lombardo collected the assists as Spalding defeated Stone Ridge, 2-1, in field hockey on Monday.
Sophie Somerville made two saves for the Cavaliers (9-2-1).